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ONLINE EXCLUSIVE Women’s tennis rolls past No. 18 Pepperdine, 5-2, to remain undefeated.
Student Newspaper of the University of Southern California Since 1912 | VOL. 163, NO. 12 | www.dailytrojan.com FRIDAY , FEBRUARY 1, 2008
Buried by budinger
Trojans have no answers for Wildcats sophomore
forward, who had 29 points in a 80-69
loss before a record Galen Center crowd. 12
hidden treasures
The Downtown Los Angeles Art Walk
attracts as many as 300 people
to downtown galleries. 5
No clear winner in L.A.
Democratic debate
By RYAN FURLONG
Daily Trojan
All bets were off at Thursday
night’s highly anticipated final
Democratic presidential debate
before Super Tuesday, where Sens.
Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama
squared off for the first time in
what was marketed as the “Super
Bowl” of presidential debates.
Rather than throwing around
personal attacks, though, Obama
and Clinton spent much of the eve-ning
holding hands, amicably con-trasting
policy issues against one
another and the Republican Party.
“In all, it was an unhelpful de-bate.
They minimized their differ-ences,”
CNN Senior Political Ana-lyst
Bill Schneider said.
The debate was held at the
Kodak Theatre in Hollywood; it
was sponsored by CNN, the Los
Angeles Times and Politico.
Debate moderator and CNN
anchor Wolf Blitzer led the discus-sion,
along with panelists Doyle
McManus, Washington Bureau
chief of the Los Angeles Times, and
Jeanne Cummings, a senior corre-spondent
for Politico.
The debate kicked off with a
90-second opening statement from
each candidate, during which both
Obama and Clinton jumped at the
opportunity to court supporters
of former candidate Sen. John Ed-wards,
who dropped out of the race
Wednesday.
“First of all, I want to acknowl-edge
a candidate who left the race
this week, John Edwards, who did
such an outstanding job,” Obama
said in his first opening sentence.
Blitzer began by asking Obama
and Clinton to describe the most
important policy difference be-tween
them, and Clinton used the
question to differentiate herself
from Obama by associating her-self
with Edwards on the issue of
health care.
“I think it’s imperative that … we
recognize what both John Edwards
and I did, that you have to bite this
bullet. You have to say, yes, we are
going to try to get universal health
care,” she said.
Clinton criticized Obama’s
health care plan, saying that if you
don’t begin by saying you are going
to achieve universal health care,
Clinton, Obama play it safe
less than a week after their
spitfire in South Carolina.
Leah Thompson | Daily Trojan
Head to head | Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama make their final
attempts to win over California Democrats before Super Tuesday at the Kodak Theatre.
Increased credit standards make private loans harder to acquire
wBy SARAH DADA
Daily Trojan
Private loan companies have cre-ated
more stringent restrictions
on student loan eligibility after
Congressional budget cuts, forcing
many students to apply for govern-ment
loans.
Companies have limited access
to loans because it is becoming
harder for them to raise enough
cash to lend to borrowers.
“The credit market is tighten-ing
up, and this is making it more
expensive to raise the money they
need,” said Susan Ikerd, associate
dean and director of financial aid.
Most private loan companies are
not pulling out of the student loan
business entirely, but they are mak-ing
it harder for students to acquire
loans and are also increasing fees.
“The companies are now look-ing
more into the creditworthiness
of the customer than ever before,”
Ikerd said. “The creditworthiness
of the borrower is important to
the loan companies because it en-sures
that the borrower will repay
the loan company with interest and
enables the company to issue more
loans to other students.”
Many loan programs already
require a series of steps before stu-dents
are able to borrow money.
Students taking out loans such
as the Federal Stafford Loan or the
Federal Graduate PLUS Loan must
complete entrance loan counseling.
At USC, this counseling is ad-ministered
through an online sur-vey
that students must fill out to
complete the loan process.
“Students from public schools
or trade schools may be more likely
to be affected by this because they
may be less creditworthy than
students that attend USC,” Ikerd
said.
Although an increase in loan
interest rates will hurt students fi-nancially,
USC has employed loan
caps to ensure that students are
not paying for the majority of their
tuition through loans.
“Loan caps limit the amount of
loans students have when they are
at school,” Ikerd said.
At USC, students are not allowed
to take out more than $6,000 in
loans each year, Ikerd said, as long
as students fill out their FAFSA by
the submission deadline.
But some students have taken
out more than the $6,000 limit.
“I have about $35,000 taken out
in government loans through the
PLUS Loan, Stafford and Perkins,”
said Kordai Summers, a senior
majoring in public policy, manage-ment
and planning. “They renew
each year through my financial aid
package and I have a month grace
period before I start payments af-ter
graduation.”
The Office of Financial Aid,
however, urges students to look
into federal loans before even con-sidering
private loans. Governmen-tal
loans hold lower interest rates
that are fixed.
According to the USC financial
aid website, it is more cost effec-tive
to look at governmental loans
first.
Students are automatically con-sidered
for certain government
loans such as the Federal Stafford
Loan by filling out the Free Appli-cation
for Federal Student Aid, a
form students complete when ap-plying
for financial aid at USC.
“We really urge students to try
Congressional budget cuts
have made it harder for loan
companies to raise cash.
| see loans, page 2 |
SPORTS |
The Women of Troy
were beat by Stanford
in Palo Alto. PAGE 20
ONLINE | See more
photos of the
Democratic debate at
the Kodak Theatre.
OPINION | Students
abuse illegal dowloads,
writes columnist Amy
Baack. PAGE 4
Loans available to students
Stafford
loan
Perkins
loan
Parent
PLUS loan
current
interest
6.8% 5.0% 8.5%
repayment
period
10 years, begins
6 months after
graduation
10 years, begins
9 months after
graduation
varies
other
criteria
FAFSA form
required
FAFSA form
required
must be taken
out in the
parent’s name
Graphic by Tiffany Tsai
| see debates, page 3 |

ONLINE EXCLUSIVE Women’s tennis rolls past No. 18 Pepperdine, 5-2, to remain undefeated.
Student Newspaper of the University of Southern California Since 1912 | VOL. 163, NO. 12 | www.dailytrojan.com FRIDAY , FEBRUARY 1, 2008
Buried by budinger
Trojans have no answers for Wildcats sophomore
forward, who had 29 points in a 80-69
loss before a record Galen Center crowd. 12
hidden treasures
The Downtown Los Angeles Art Walk
attracts as many as 300 people
to downtown galleries. 5
No clear winner in L.A.
Democratic debate
By RYAN FURLONG
Daily Trojan
All bets were off at Thursday
night’s highly anticipated final
Democratic presidential debate
before Super Tuesday, where Sens.
Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama
squared off for the first time in
what was marketed as the “Super
Bowl” of presidential debates.
Rather than throwing around
personal attacks, though, Obama
and Clinton spent much of the eve-ning
holding hands, amicably con-trasting
policy issues against one
another and the Republican Party.
“In all, it was an unhelpful de-bate.
They minimized their differ-ences,”
CNN Senior Political Ana-lyst
Bill Schneider said.
The debate was held at the
Kodak Theatre in Hollywood; it
was sponsored by CNN, the Los
Angeles Times and Politico.
Debate moderator and CNN
anchor Wolf Blitzer led the discus-sion,
along with panelists Doyle
McManus, Washington Bureau
chief of the Los Angeles Times, and
Jeanne Cummings, a senior corre-spondent
for Politico.
The debate kicked off with a
90-second opening statement from
each candidate, during which both
Obama and Clinton jumped at the
opportunity to court supporters
of former candidate Sen. John Ed-wards,
who dropped out of the race
Wednesday.
“First of all, I want to acknowl-edge
a candidate who left the race
this week, John Edwards, who did
such an outstanding job,” Obama
said in his first opening sentence.
Blitzer began by asking Obama
and Clinton to describe the most
important policy difference be-tween
them, and Clinton used the
question to differentiate herself
from Obama by associating her-self
with Edwards on the issue of
health care.
“I think it’s imperative that … we
recognize what both John Edwards
and I did, that you have to bite this
bullet. You have to say, yes, we are
going to try to get universal health
care,” she said.
Clinton criticized Obama’s
health care plan, saying that if you
don’t begin by saying you are going
to achieve universal health care,
Clinton, Obama play it safe
less than a week after their
spitfire in South Carolina.
Leah Thompson | Daily Trojan
Head to head | Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama make their final
attempts to win over California Democrats before Super Tuesday at the Kodak Theatre.
Increased credit standards make private loans harder to acquire
wBy SARAH DADA
Daily Trojan
Private loan companies have cre-ated
more stringent restrictions
on student loan eligibility after
Congressional budget cuts, forcing
many students to apply for govern-ment
loans.
Companies have limited access
to loans because it is becoming
harder for them to raise enough
cash to lend to borrowers.
“The credit market is tighten-ing
up, and this is making it more
expensive to raise the money they
need,” said Susan Ikerd, associate
dean and director of financial aid.
Most private loan companies are
not pulling out of the student loan
business entirely, but they are mak-ing
it harder for students to acquire
loans and are also increasing fees.
“The companies are now look-ing
more into the creditworthiness
of the customer than ever before,”
Ikerd said. “The creditworthiness
of the borrower is important to
the loan companies because it en-sures
that the borrower will repay
the loan company with interest and
enables the company to issue more
loans to other students.”
Many loan programs already
require a series of steps before stu-dents
are able to borrow money.
Students taking out loans such
as the Federal Stafford Loan or the
Federal Graduate PLUS Loan must
complete entrance loan counseling.
At USC, this counseling is ad-ministered
through an online sur-vey
that students must fill out to
complete the loan process.
“Students from public schools
or trade schools may be more likely
to be affected by this because they
may be less creditworthy than
students that attend USC,” Ikerd
said.
Although an increase in loan
interest rates will hurt students fi-nancially,
USC has employed loan
caps to ensure that students are
not paying for the majority of their
tuition through loans.
“Loan caps limit the amount of
loans students have when they are
at school,” Ikerd said.
At USC, students are not allowed
to take out more than $6,000 in
loans each year, Ikerd said, as long
as students fill out their FAFSA by
the submission deadline.
But some students have taken
out more than the $6,000 limit.
“I have about $35,000 taken out
in government loans through the
PLUS Loan, Stafford and Perkins,”
said Kordai Summers, a senior
majoring in public policy, manage-ment
and planning. “They renew
each year through my financial aid
package and I have a month grace
period before I start payments af-ter
graduation.”
The Office of Financial Aid,
however, urges students to look
into federal loans before even con-sidering
private loans. Governmen-tal
loans hold lower interest rates
that are fixed.
According to the USC financial
aid website, it is more cost effec-tive
to look at governmental loans
first.
Students are automatically con-sidered
for certain government
loans such as the Federal Stafford
Loan by filling out the Free Appli-cation
for Federal Student Aid, a
form students complete when ap-plying
for financial aid at USC.
“We really urge students to try
Congressional budget cuts
have made it harder for loan
companies to raise cash.
| see loans, page 2 |
SPORTS |
The Women of Troy
were beat by Stanford
in Palo Alto. PAGE 20
ONLINE | See more
photos of the
Democratic debate at
the Kodak Theatre.
OPINION | Students
abuse illegal dowloads,
writes columnist Amy
Baack. PAGE 4
Loans available to students
Stafford
loan
Perkins
loan
Parent
PLUS loan
current
interest
6.8% 5.0% 8.5%
repayment
period
10 years, begins
6 months after
graduation
10 years, begins
9 months after
graduation
varies
other
criteria
FAFSA form
required
FAFSA form
required
must be taken
out in the
parent’s name
Graphic by Tiffany Tsai
| see debates, page 3 |